1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a durable and lightweight track system for hanging exterior decorative trim moldings on a residential or commercial building to provide decorative accents to the structure's exterior for improving the facade. The track system allows for mixing and matching of various prefabricated modular decorative trim elements that are inserted into the track system in a sliding arrangement for quick and simple installation.
2) Description of Related Art
The do-it-yourself industry is becoming ever more popular as innovations in home improvement products make using the products significantly more user friendly for the average consumer. One area, however, where such improvements have not been made for the do-it-yourselfer is in the area of exterior decorative housing trim.
Currently, high quality decorative trim must be handcrafted, typically from wood, and installed by professionals using nails, staples and glue in a complicated and time consuming process. This traditional installation using nails, staples and glue, requires the added steps of patching over nail holes with putty, sanding, and painting or staining the wood, which represents a significant cost in terms of labor and the time required to install such moldings. Due to the high costs of having such decorative trim handcrafted and installed by skilled professional home builders, usually only more expensive homes have this type of decorative trim installed. Further, traditional exterior architectural decorative moldings manufactured from wood are subject to shrinkage, warping and splitting from exposure to the elements which can give rise to significant maintenance costs. A further disadvantage of traditional wood moldings is that they are not removably secured, but rather intended to be permanently attached. Thus, there is no ability to interchange designs over time without completely uninstalling and reinstalling all the trim, which is entirely cost prohibitive.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,421,964 discloses a decorative molding assembly. This system must be attached to a wall of the structure and cannot hang freely from a railing or other exterior trim. While the moldings are interchangeable, the application is limited due to the method of attachment, and thus, the system is unable to install many types of desirable molding.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,563,233 discloses a decorative molding assembly that is limited to a particular arrangement of crown molding with a dental molding insert. This system must also be attached to a wall of the structure and cannot hang freely from other exterior ledges, railings or fascia boards.
Other similar decorative molding assemblies exist that suffer from the same problems of limited application due to the method of attachment.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a lightweight track system for hanging exterior decorative trim moldings on a residential or commercial building to provide decorative accents to the structures exterior for improving the facade.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a track system that allows for mixing and matching of various prefabricated modular decorative trim pieces that can be inserted into the tracks in a sliding arrangement for quick and simple installation or removal.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a modular exterior molding track system that is cost efficient to manufacture and install, which avoids the maintenance issues associated with typical wood construction.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a modular exterior molding track system that can be installed to hang freely from exterior ledges, railings or fascia boards to provide a broad range of decorative accent options.